Clinical Congress News; October 29, 1998

THURSDAY ¢ October 29, 1998

The American College of Surgeons ¢ 84th Clinical Congress * October 25-30, 1998 ¢ Orlando

George F. Sheldon becomes
ACS President tonight

eorge F. Sheldon, MD, FACS,

a general surgeon from

Chapel Hill, NC, will be in-

stalled as the 79" President
of the American College of Surgeons
(ACS) tonight during Convocation cer-
emonies that conclude the Clinical Con-
gress. Dr. Sheldon is currently the
Zack D. Owens Distinguished Profes-
sor of Surgery and professor and chair
of the department of surgery at the
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
School of Medicine.

A native of Salina, KS, Dr. Sheldon
received a BA degree from the Univer-
sity of Kansas in 1957 and a medical
degree from Kansas University Medi-
cal School in 1961.

After internship at Kansas University
Medical Center, Dr. Sheldon entered
service through the United states Pub-
lic Health Service, serving in the Uni-
formed Services branches of the Marine
Hospital System where he served as
senior assistant surgeon (lieutenant),
1962-1963, and surgeon (lieutenant
commander), 1963-1964. Following
service, he attended the Mayo Clinic
from 1964 to 1965 as a fellow in internal
medicine. He completed a residency in
surgery at the University of California,
San Francisco Medical Center (1965-
1969) under a former President of the
American College of Surgeons, J.

At Ethics Lecture

Engelbert Dunphy, MD, FACS.

Following his residency, he became a
research fellow in surgical biology at
the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital at
Harvard University (1969-1979) serv-
ing in the laboratory Francis D. Moore,
MD, FACS. Following that fellowship,
he became assistant professor in the
department of surgery at the University
of California School of Medicine in 1975,
becoming professor in 1980. At San
Francisco General Hospital, he was
chief of trauma and hyperalimentation
services. Dr. Sheldon assumed his cur-
rent position as professor and chair of
the department of surgery at the Uni-
versity of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in
1984, and was named the Zack D. Owens
Distinguished Professor of Surgery at
the University

Dr. Sheldon became a Fellow of the
American College of Surgeons in 1973
and has been an active participant in
College activities since that time. He
was elected to the Board of Governors
in 1976 and served on the Executive
Committee and as Secretary of the
Board of Governors (1979-1982). He
served as Chair of the Governors’ Com-
mittee to Study the Fiscal Affairs of the
College. Between 1984 and 1993 he
served on the American College of Sur-
geons’ Board of Regents. As a member
of the Board of Regents, he chaired the

Communications Committee and be-
came Editorial Advisor for the Bulletin
of the American College of Surgeons. He
has served on many committees of the
College, including the Scholarships
Committee (1975-1989), Finance Com-
mittee (1979-1982), and the Commit-
tee on Trauma (1982-1987).

He chaired the Task Force on Frag-
mentation and Turf Problems Retreat
in 1991 and has been a participant and
course organizer for more than 15
courses at the annual Clinical Congress.
He gave the Scudder Oration for the
Committee on Trauma in 1991 and pre-
sented the Opening Ceremonies Lec-
ture of the American College of
Surgeons Clinical Congress in 1978. He
has been active in the College’s local
chapters, first in Northern California
and secondly in the North Carolina
Chapter of the College. He was also
Vice-Chair of the Surgical Research and
Education Committee of the American
College of Surgeons and was Vice-Chair
under William Longmire, MD, FACS,
former President of the American Col-
lege of Surgeons of the Conjoint Coun-
cil on Surgical Research, which is now
being absorbed into the American Col-
lege of Surgeons as the Surgical Re-
search and Education Committee.

Dr. Sheldon has had many leadership
responsibilities in a variety of medical

Neuhaus nixes nihilism

“Moral analysis and ethical thought
cannot go beyond or behind the ‘first
principles’ any more than human con-
sciousness can go beyond or behind
human consciousness,” according to
Father Richard John Neuhaus at
yesterday’s Ethics and Philosophy Lec-
ture, “Medical Ethics and the Idea of
Progress.”

Rev. Neuhaus is president of the In-
stitute on Religion and Public Life, New
York, NY, and editor-in-chief of its
monthly journal, First Things. He is ac-
claimed as one of the foremost authori-
ties on the role of religion in the
contemporary world, and has published
voluminously on the topic.

At yesterday’s lecture, Rev. Neuhaus
challenged the concept that since we
live in a circumstance with new chal-
lenges (progress), we require new eth-
ics (principles) with which to make
decisions.

Progress, Rev. Neuhaus said, can be
considered a good thing, it is “change
with a purpose.” He continued to say
that progress is what allows us to speak
of history as a singular thing. However,
Rev. Neuhaus reminded the audience
that every age considers itself to be ina
time of flux—it is not a phenomenon
new to the late 20th century.

Yet, in our late 20th century, there
are many neophiliacs, or “lovers of the

new,” who operate on an uncounscious
teleological assumption regarding
change, Rev. Neuhaus believes. And,
he said, there have been many great
progressions in medicine, economics,
and technology in this century. These
accomplishments, he continued, cer-
tainly are valid points for those who
“adhere to the gospel of progress.”
Rev. Neuhaus said that the concept
of the link between knowledge and
progress began with the ancient
Greeks, and since that time has essen-
tially gone unquestioned by scientists,
philosophers, and theologians. How-
ever, he noted that our present century
is the “bloodiest and most horrible cen-

Dr. Sheldon

organizations. He was secretary and
then president (1984) of the American
Association of the Surgery of Trauma
and this past year gave the Fitts Oration
on trauma for that organization. He was
secretary and then president (1994) of
the American Surgical Association.

(continued on page 2)

tury in history,” and this situation has
caught the attention of today’s schol-
ars.

Rev. Neuhaus said that during the
1970s, many philosophers as well as
scientists published articles express-
ing concern that our society had reached
the limits of scientific inquiry. “By fol-
lowing its own rigorous methodology,
science discovered there are things we
cannot know,” Rev. Neuhaus said.

Accompanying this doubt among
scholars and scientists, he continued,
is a “melancholy that goes very deep.”
Rev. Neuhaus suggested then that the

(continued on page 2)

DR. SHELDON, from page 1

He was certified by the American
Board of Surgery in 1970 and received
added certification in Surgical Critical
Care in 1986. He became a director of
the American Board of Surgery in 1983
and was elected chairman of the Ameri-
can Board of Surgery, serving between
1989 to 1990. Dr. Sheldon served on the
Residency Review Committee of the
Accreditation Council on Graduate
Medical Education from 1978 to 1984
and chaired their Committee on Vascu-
lar Surgery. He continues to serve on
the standing panel for Accreditation
Appeals atthe present time. Dr. Sheldon
also was a member of the surgery
subtest committee of the National Board
of Medical Examiners, serving between
1981 and 1984.

Dr. Sheldon has had a strong partici-
pation in the Association of American
Medical Colleges (AAMC) and served
on their landmark committee on the
Graduate and Professional Education
in 1983 and 1984. He also served on the
Committee on Teaching in the Ambula-
tory Setting. He currently is serving as
chair of the Council of Academic Societ-

ies Administrative Board. He also
serves on the AAMC’s Committee on
Health Workforce, Committee on Gen-
der Equity and the Committee on PATH
Audits. He was recently appointed to a
task force on clinical research, a com-
bined committee of the AAMC and the
AMA, and to the Board of Directors of
the Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Medi-
cal Society.

Dr. Sheldon has been active in the
Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences and was
elected to membership in 1996 to that
organization. He has served on the
Committee on Employer Based Health
Insurance, the Task Force to Evaluate
Healthcare Technology Assessment,
and the Committee on U.S. Physician
Supply. He is currently serving on an
Institute of Medicine committee to ex-
amine resuscitation fluid design and
resuscitation protocols for combat ca-
sualties.

Dr. Sheldon’s research activities have
been in three areas. He led the re-
search group that established that the
route of nutrition, be it intravenous or

oral, was essential in maintaining the
integrity of the host defense mecha-
nisms. He has published material about
the clinical management of patients with
injury. Dr. Sheldon has published more
than 200 scientific articles and coau-
thored eight books. Dr. Sheldon serves
on the editorial boards of Annals of
Surgery, the Journal of Trauma and Criti-
cal Care, the American Journal of Sur-
gery, and the Journal of the American
College of Surgeons.

He has participated actively in health
services research, being an acknowl-
edged expert on the surgical workforce,
which has resulted in invitations to tes-
tify before Congress and other federal
agencies. He served as chairman of the
Merit Review Board for the Surgery
Veterans Administration between 1981
and 1983. He has served on the Ameri-
can Institute of Biologic Science Re-
search Review since 1984.

Dr. Sheldon is an Honorary Fellow of
the Royal College of Surgeons of
Edinburgh, an Honorary Fellow of the
Association of Surgeons of Great Brit-
ain and Ireland, and an Honorary Fel-

low of the European Surgical Associa-
tion. He is a member of the James IV
Association of Surgeons and is listed in
Who’s Who in America.

Books authored or coauthored by Dr.
Sheldon include Clinical Surgery, coed-
ited with John H. Davis—the 1991 re-
cipient of the College’s Distinguished
Service Award.

Other officials to be installed tonight
are Josef E. Fischer, MD, FACS, Cin-
cinnati, OH, as First Vice-President and
Julian T. Hoff, MD, FACS, Ann Arbor,
MI, as Second Vice-President.

Dr. Fischer is Christian R. Holmes
Professor and chairman, department of
surgery, University of Cincinnati (OH)
Medical Center. He is the recipient of
last year’s Distinguished Service Award.

Dr. Hoff is professor of surgery and
head, section of neurosurgery, Univer-
sity of Michigan Medical Center, Ann
Arbor. He has been a member of the
College since 1975, and has served as
Chair, Neurosurgery, Committee for the
Forum on Fundamental Surgical Prob-
lems (1979-1985), and member of the
Program Committee (1989-1994).

REV. NEUHAUS, from page 1

links of the “modernity project” begun
by the ancient Greeks are being strained
today.

Rev. Neuhaus then examined the con-
dition of our moral framework, or first
principles, and said that “we should be
open to the possibility that we are wit-
nessing a moral regression.” He con-
tinued by stating that “cosmologists,
molecular biologists, and physicists
reach the end of knowledge, at which
they fall silent and acknowledge our
human creatureliness.” Ethicists, he

said, reach the same point and do not
fall silent but instead look for options.

Rev. Neuhaus said he believes that
today we have a choice between
Aristotle’s concept of choice (“enlight-
enment project”) or Nietzsche’s moral
nihilism. And, he said, a worrisome
trend is that the “nihilistic avant-garde
is degeneration to barbarianism. These
barbarians are those who know nothing
and insist nothing can be known.”

In today’s society, Rev. Neuhaus said,
the new barbarians are not those lack-

The following companies have supported the Clinical Congress with
advertisements in the Exhibit Guide section of this issue:

ACS Insurance Program
American Medical Industries
American Medical Software
Appleton & Lange

BFW, Inc.

Circon Corporation

Closure Medical Group
Davol, Inc.

Electroscope

General Surgical Innovation

Horizon Medical Products
Lone Star Medical

ME-92 Operations
Medtronics

Megadyne

Moss Tubes

Pfizer, Inc.

U.S. Surgical

Valley Lab

Zeneca Pharmaceuticals

2 The American College of Surgeons

October 29, 1998

ing in sophistication; rather, they are
hypersophisticated, and therefore have
removed themselves from traditional
ethics. For these barbarians, he said,
the “past is merely prelude,” and to any
immutable moral principle, they re-
spond with, “Says who?”

These “hermeneutics of suspicion
make the first priniciples vulnerable,”
Rev. Neuhaus said, and they empower
the hypersohpisticated with the view
that first principles of moral thought
can be debunked or “seen through.”

Finally, Rev. Neuhaus reminded the
audience that, “There is no progress in
the sense of moving beyond the moral
truths that constitute our civilizational
circle.” For, he said, without a firm set
of moral principles on which to frame
progress, no progress can be made. In
concluding, he quoted the 20th century
essayist C. S. Lewis, “But you cannot go
on explaining away forever...It is no use
trying to see through first principles....a
wholy transparent world is an invisible
world.”

Clinical Congress News

VOLUME 49 NUMBER 4

Editor
Stephen J. Regnier

Associate Editor
Jennifer F. Herendeen

Photography Editor
Tina Woelke

Director of Communications
Linn Meyer

Photography
Chuck Giorno Photography

Published daily October 25-30

Office: Hall A4

Orange County Convention Center
Phone: 248-5031

Items of interest or information must be
reported to the office of the Clinical Con-
gress News by 11:30 am on the day pre-
ceding the desired day of publication.

Thomas E. Starzl, MD, FACS (left), receives a presentation copy of the 1998
Owen H. Wangensteen Surgical Forum from David Tapper, MD, FACS, Chair of
the Committee for the Forum on Fundamental Surgical Problems. The 49th
volume of the Surgical Forum is dedicated to Dr. Starzl in recognition of his
continuing outstanding contributions to and leadership in the field of transplan-

tation surgery.

Allied Meetings

Thursday
Morning

American Society of Colon and Rectal Sur-
geons- Cooperative Clinical Trials
7:00 am - 8:00 am. Breakfast

NMNIRacan Hotel Calants Floor Mezzanine

Afternoon

American Society of Colon and Rectal Sur-
geons-Public Relations

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm. Luncheon

OMNI Rosen Hotel, Salon 14, Floor Mezzanine

r =

American Society of Colon and Rectal Sur-
geons - RF Research Committee

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Meeting

OMNI Rosen Hotel, Salon 24, Floor Mezzanine

American Society of Colon and Rectal Sur-
geons - DC&R Editorial Board
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm. Meeting

OMNI Rosen Hotel. Salon 14. Floor Me7zzan

Evening

Society of University Urologists
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Reception
OMNI Rosen Hotel, Salon 9, Floor Mezzanine

ATLS members from six continents participated, and are shown above.

4 The American College of Surgeons

October 29, 1998

oe ys hy 4 \

The International Relations Committee hosted a luncheon on Tuesday to honor
the 1998 International Guest Scholars. From left to right (front row): Adebayo
Clement Adebamowo, MB, ChB, FWACS, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria; Francisco
Padilla Monroy, MD, Mexico D.F., Mexico; Rem R. Gvamichava, MD, Tbilisi,
Republic of Georgia; Peter Claus Schrenk, MD, Linz, Austria; and Jerome J.
DeCosse, MD, FACS, Chair of the International Relations Committee. Back row:
David Charles Gotley, MD, FRACS, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Eduardo
Henderson, MD, Montevideo, Uruguay; Orestes Noel Mederos Curbelo, MD,
Havana, Cuba; and Sergio Leonel Ralon C., MD, Guatemala, Guatemala.

Don’t miss your Friday CCN

Fellows who will not be in Orlando on Friday to pick up their issue of the
Clinical Congress News may obtain a copy by contacting the Clinical Congress
News office today (convention center, Hall A-4), or by writing to Stephen
Regnier, Editor, ACS, Communications Dept., 633 N. Saint Clair St., Chicago,
IL 60611-3211.

The Friday issue contains information on Convocation activities, an
announcement of the College’s President-Elect and other Officers-Elect, as well
as information on new and re-elected Regents and Governors.

i i a a rn a PS Pe
Caps and gowns

Distribution of caps and gowns starts today at 1:30 pm until the
Convocation ceremony begins, in Salons E1, E2, E3, and E4 (Ballroom
Level) of the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel. Caps and gowns may
be turned in on Thursday at the same locations following the
conclusion of Convocation.

— maar

Members of the Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS) Subcommittee of the Committee on Trauma met last Saturday at the Fourth International ATLS meeting.

Jatene

Mansfield

Sweetnam

Veronesi

College awards four Honorary Fellowships

Honorary Fellowship in the American
College of Surgeons will be awarded
tonight to four prominent surgeons
from Brazil, England, and Italy. The
awards will be presented during the
Convocation ceremonies that conclude
the College’s Clinical Congress. The
recipients will be:

e Adib Domingos Jatene, MD. Pro-
fessor Jatene is dean of the University
of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil.

e Averil Olive Mansfield, MB, ChM,
MD (Hon), FRCS (Eng, Edin, Gl),
FRACS (Hon). Professor Mansfield is
the director of academics, surgical unit,

.

%

“as

Distinguished Service Award recipients came together for a luncheon on Tuesday. From left to right (front row): S. Stuart Mally, Luis F. Sala, Edwin W. Gerrish,

division of surgery, anaesthesia, and
intensive care at the Imperial College
School of Medicine, Queen Elizabeth,
the Queen Mother Wing, London.

¢ Sir Rodney Sweetnam, KCVO, CBE,
MA, MB, RCS (Eng).Sir Rodney is the
immediate president of the Royal Col-
lege of Surgeons of England.

¢ Umberto Veronesi, MD, FRCS
(Hon—Edin). Professor Veronesi is sci-
entific director of the European Insti-
tute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.

Presenting the Honorary Fellowships
on behalf of the College will be: Benson
R. Wilcox, MD, FACS, Chapel Hill, NC;

Jerry Goldstone, MD, FACS, San Fran-
cisco, CA; Kirby I. Bland, MD, FACS,
Providence, RI; and Ronald E.
Rosenthal, MD, FACS, New Hyde Park,
NY, who is a member of the College’s
Board of Regents.

Fellowship in the American College
of Surgeons is awarded during the cer-
emony to surgeons whose education
and training, professional qualifications,
surgical and competence, and ethical
conduct have passed a rigorous evalua-
tion and have been found to be consis-
tent with the high standards established
and demanded by the College. During

the College’s Convocation ceremony
this year, 1,383 surgeons from around
the world will be admitted into Fellow-
ship. With a membership of more than
59,000, the College is the largest orga-
nization of surgeons in the world.

Sir Rickman Godlee, president of the
Royal College of Surgeons, was awarded
the first Honorary Fellowship in the
College during the College’s first Con-
vocation in 1913. Since then, 362 inter-
nationally prominent surgeons,
including the four chosen this year, have
been named Honorary Fellows of the
American College of Surgeons.

Vallee L. Willman, and C. Barber Mueller. Back row: Seymour |. Schwartz, Josef E. Fischer, Barry M. Manuel, C. Thomas Thompson, James C. Thompson, and Frank

Padberg.

The American College of Surgeons

October 29, 1998 5

*
: i
)

0!

i)

Past-Presidents of the College, who comprise the Advisory Council to the Board of Regents, gathered Tuesday for a luncheon. In attendance were (left to right,
front row): James D. Hardy, Jonathan E. Rhoads, William H. Muller, Jr., W. Gerald Austen, G. Thomas Shires, and Ralph A. Straffon. Back row: M.J. Jurkiewicz,

David G. Murray, LaSalle D. Leffail, Jr., Lioyd D. MacLean, Henry T. Bahnson, and C. Rollins Hanlon.

Registration totals

The all-new 10th edition of the Surgical Education and Self-Assessment Program As of Wednesday afternoon, total registration for the Clinical Congress
(SESAP) made its debut this week at the SESAP exhibit in the convention center. was 13,593; 8,015 were physicians and the rest were exhibitors,

Attendees are invited to stop by the exhibit, chat with authors, and to enroll in .
the new program on-site. guests, spouses, or convention personnel.

6 The American College of Surgeons October 29, 1998